Participants will be invited to use their knowledge of artificial intelligence to improve the operations of a spacecraft actually orbiting Mars. Teams will be tasked to develop a prediction of Mars Express‘s power demand or create an interactive visualization of Mars Express and its activities through each orbit.

HubRaum is a startup space in Krakow, Poland Credit: HubRaum

Programmers, coders, data analysts and designers will have to demonstrate not only technical knowledge, but also the ingenuity and ability to effectively present their solution. To find a way to the judges’ hearts and brains, the solution will have to be presented in a substantive and convincing way. The jury will be composed of, among others, Dr Redouane Boumghar from the European Space Agency, and Rafał Cycoń, the CTO of FORNAX.ai, each of whom specialise in separate fields and who will pay careful attention to all aspects of the team solutions.

The Data Adventures hackathon initiator is a Polish company, FORNAX.ai, founded in 2013, specializing in artificial intelligence and big data. The endeavor itself is, for its CTO, Rafał Cycoń, an unprecedented event.

“We were really motivated after finishing in the top three at last year’s Mars Express power challenge, and we are happy to work again this year with the data science team at ESA,” says Rafał.

“This hackathon is a great opportunity for participants to not only have fun, but also to work with real open datasets prepared by engineers at the European Space Agency.”

Apart from the competition itself, many surprises and additional activities await participants.

The organizers will not only provide catering, energy drinks, souvenir t-shirts, swag and healthy stretching sessions but also a variety of insightful technical lectures on AI and machine learning conducted by experts in their fields.

“Feeding the body and mind, this is an excellent networking opportunity as well as a chance to have fun with data,” says ESA’s Redouane Boumghar.